The Moon By Whale LightBy DIane Ackerman

The Moon By Whale Light:

The Moon By Whale Light is a nonfiction book written by adventurer Diane Ackerman. This book tells of the adventures among bats, penguins, crocodilians, and whales. This book will give you a glimpse of some rare wildlife moments that make you wish you could experience. Some ranging from hearing the whales hypnotic singing to watching the Alligator's spectacular water dance.

Bats

Bats:

While many people fear these winged creatures, bats have more reasons to be afraid of us. In The Moon By Whale Light, Ackerman is on a adventure to catch bats and study them with bat enthusiast, Merlin D. Tuttle, who is known for saving bats. Bats are a winged mammal. Their wings are actually not wings at all and are in fact, elongated fingers with thin membrane stretched in between them. We've all heard the stories of vampires and bats that suck blood, but thats only slightly true. For one thing only on species of bats, the Vampire Bat, actually drink blood, and they wouldn't dare drink human blood. Second these Vampire Bats only drink the blood of cows, and if your worried about bats spreading diseases, bats are very unlikely to do that. While I already knew some things about bats, being an animal enthusiast and lover myself, I didnt know that one single bat could eat up to 150 tons of insects every night. You could say that bats are natures pesticide

Alligators

Alligators:

When I was younger I was among the people who were afraid of the large prehistoric dinosaurs. With a massive bit force that is in possible to get free of, who wouldn't be scared. Yet, as I learned more and more I've realized that these reptiles are just normal predators trying to live their lives. In The Moon By Whale Light, Ackerman is with a zoologist Kent Vliety and other researchers from the University of Florida to take blood samples of alligators at an Alligator Farm. While there Ackerman was able to see the Alligator's water dance, that all species of the crocodialian family do. Now I wonder what an water dance looks like. Is it a graceful dance, which must be hard to master with huge reptiles such as themselves. Or is it a loud banging, head clashing, water spraying dance filled with heads, tails, and jaws. All I know is that its one thing I have to see in the future.

Whales

Whales:

Whales are one of my favorite undersea animals. With their gentle carefulness that much be hard to keep in balance which such a huge mass, they are like graceful underwater ballerinas. Of course being graceful isn't one of their only talents whales posses. In The Moon By Whale Light, Ackerman goes on a expedition with Roger Payne and a team of whale enthusiasts and mariner biologists, travel to Maui to listen to whales beautiful singing. Whales have alluring voices, so alluring that back in old times it was said that the whales song were often mistaken as sirens that led sirens to their doom. Whales have powerful voices, and they use these voices to sing the same song for hours and will use the same song for years, never changing. Also in Maui, Ackerman got to swim close to a mother whale and her calf. While whales are gentle creatures, you have to careful around them, even in boats. For their big size could easliy capsize a boat, and their tail could hit a human and be killed instantly. Even with these precautions, whales are still loved, and hopefully with the right action, whales will keep on singing for years to come.

Penguins

Penguins:

We've all seen penguins before. Whether we've sent them at an aquarium like Sea world, or a photo on the internet, we've all heard of penguins. In The Moon By Whale Light, Ackerman goes on a group expedition to the cold land of Antarctica. While we've seen penguins waddle on land, we never really seen them in water. On land penguins are clumsy, mostly because they have no land predators to run from. Yet in the water, they are graceful and swift using their flippers to propel themselves through the water to catch fish and krill. One of the cool things about penguins is their color. Humans, who see in full color, are naturally drawn to black in white animals, like the panda, its just they way things are. For penguins, their white and black feathers are for protection. From above the black feathers look like just another black shadow on the ocean floor. Below, the white feathers look like just a glare from the sun, making it hard for predators to visibly see the pengiun. With all animals there are things that we are yet to discover, and if I were to get the chance to go to Antarctica to study penguins, I definitely would take the chance.

The Moon By Whale Light

The Moon By Whale Light:

One thing that is always hard for us humans to understand is that there are two sides to every animal. For example the ferocious crocodilians with sharp teeth and powerful jaws, are actually very caring of their young. Bats, who have always been feared, are actually gentle creatures that actually help keep the insects under control. The Moon By Whale Light, gave me a better understanding of these four animals and now I want to do anything I can to help them. So before you judge any animal there are two sides to every animal. So go out there and explore the wonderful world that we live in.